Coconut Grove Named Safest Neighborhood in Miami

By Melissa Nobles….In a recent study by realty website NeighborhoodScout.com, Coconut Grove was named the safest neighborhood in Miami. In fact, it’s actually among the top 10 percent of safest neighbors in U.S. urban cities and is safer than 70 percent of all neighborhoods across the country – ranking better than even some smaller, rural towns.

The published report looked to find the safest neighborhoods in the nation’s 29 largest cities. The results came as a result of conducting research based on FBI data from 17,000 local police departments.

The Coconut Grove Business Improvement District (BID) has made several efforts at making the Grove a safer place since it was established just over a year ago. Positive changes in lower crime rates can be attributed to the many upgrades initiated by the Coconut Grove BID and through a strong partnership with the City of Miami Police Department.

A few quantitative reports include:

• More than 12,728 patrol hours by private security from Thursday- Sunday, since April 2009.

• More than 19,000 scheduled private security “beat walks” and bicycle patrols throughout the District, since April 2009.

• More than 1,000 check-up’s by BID security guards at local merchants.

• More than 3,380 additional hours of City of Miami police coverage within the District, since November 2009.

With the partnership between the BID and the City of Miami Police Department, off-duty police officers and security employees now have access to the same radio channel – this is the first time something like this has been done in Miami.

Security employees working inside malls, stores and parking areas can now have direct radio contact with off-duty police officers. Late night sanitation workers are also able to report suspicious activity through the same radio channel.

As soon as off-duty officers receive an alarming message from a security officer or sanitation crew member, the police department is notified and is able to appear on scene within minutes.

“We hope that people who live, work or visit Coconut Grove become aware of the innovative communication network we have arranged for them so they can shop, dine, drink responsibly and have fun all while being safe,” said David Collins, executive director of the Coconut Grove BID. “We have always been known for our long tradition of being a wild and cultured hotspot – now we can add safest in Miami to that list.”